Hey folks, Harry here… This week’s column is long and solid. Last week at the end of my column I noticed some folks that thought the line up for this week sounded somehow lacking – and I beg to protest. Having seen these films and show – I couldn’t be more excited by the line up this week. There’s some wonderful finds on here. Maybe not a ton of giant mainstream current releases or big obvious 80s hits… but what we do have is some pretty great NEW THINGS to discover – and that is the most exciting kind of week in my opinion. As usual, the pics and links take you over to AMAZON where you can learn more on the title in question or purchase it, which really does help keep this column going. SO thank you.

My favorite thing of 2010. The producers of TODD & THE BOOK OF PURE EVIL sent me a package with the entire first season on it when only part of the first season had aired in Canada on SPACE TV. The show? Imagine if SCOTT PILGRIM took place in the universe of HEAVY METAL and if SCOTT had a Scooby Doo style mystery gang searching for EVIL DEAD’s Necronomican… Sounds like a lot of strange things thrown together, but somehow, this NON-RATED TV SERIES is just… my favorite thing Jason Mewes has done to date. And he just plays the man with the mop. Fucking Epic. The sensation of watching TODD AND THE BOOK OF PURE EVIL is to POWER STAND in a STADIUM OF ROCK & ROLL HELL – Where The Great Bands of Metal played their asses of and you look at your best friend next to you, you look back at the screen and you scream “FUCKING YES!!!! THIS ROCKS!” To me, that is TODD & THE BOOK OF PURE EVIL. This is like SPACED, in that it is perfect geek bliss. A perfect thing. Something magical and all its own. When AICN vet Kevin Biegel came to my house when we were screening the some of this season’s COUGAR TOWNS at the Drafthouse, well, we watched this. And Kevin kept saying One more episode for like 5 hours straight. It’s that good. This is that thing you introduce to your friends that rock and then they know you rock and that rocking is a mighty fucking feeling in this world – and TODD rocks. The practical gore rocks, the crazy latex creations rock, the stop-motion? Or was that Rod-puppet, whatever that thing was – it was funky perfect. You know, like EVIL DEAD. This show manages to combine all those elements from that one crazy sentence of mine up there. It brings SCOTT PILGRIM, EVIL DEAD, Scooby Doo & the power essence of HEAVY METAL all into one beautiful creation of awesome bliss. I’ve seen the first two episodes of Season 2 and it’s looking good. This is a 5-star home run from Canada… where we’ve gotten a whole shit load of great genre awesome for a whole lot of years. TODD AND THE BOOK OF PURE EVIL is worthy to rule in from Canada. But the actors and filmmakers behind this show. They will absolutely be going places. In fact, they’re coming to SXSW FILM FESTIVAL – where I’m doing a panel with them – where I get to passionately pitch the absolute necessity of getting GENE SIMMONS to play SATAN, Todd’s DARK FATHER from HELL!!! God this show is so good that Yoko and I have watched it all the way through 4 or 5 times together…. And then again with friends about another 4 times. I mean seriously. We love this show. This is one of those shows that creates a short hand language with those you show it to. I mean, “YOU WANNA MAKE A BAY BAAAAY” can cause people to just cry laughing. It’s just so horribly awesome. This is a very specific geek universe they’ve created for this show. If you can even imagine the joy you had finding BUFFY, just imagine a show that could go full on R-rated EVIL DEAD genre crazy. It’s just amazingly satisfying. So great. Subversively brilliant at times. The Big Baby episode. The Musical. This is bliss. It’s the sort of thing you don’t understand and then it plays and then hours have gone by. And you’re quoting it and laughing. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!

My favorite film of 2011. So very happy that this masterpiece picked up 5 OSCARS last night and while some may scoff that they’re in the technical world, I would say a film about an automaton, the birth of cinema, manual clockwork upkeep and ultimately the birth of the retrospect. Well, it is a technical film, but the reason it won all those awards last night was that this very technical film, like the characters in the movie, was made with tender loving care. Like an exquisite Fabarge Egg made of Gold, Sapphires & Diamonds. Crafted by the hands of a master jeweler, HUGO has a richness of beauty, a respect for the whole of what cinema is at it’s best. I recommend getting the 3D BLU RAY – just in case you ever do make the conversion. This is, without a doubt, the most amazing 3D cinematography that you’ll ever see. That visual effects were utilized… well they were so well incorporated into the 3D process that I feel that’s what pushed the film into winning that award. This is a master thesis on the use of the 3rd dimension. However, beyond that… it is a story of a boy named HUGO. A terribly unfortunate child, but one that has found a way to live without being in the care of anyone but his own capable hands. HUGO is ultimately a boy’s tale. A boy that loves movies and robots that can draw. I have to say, I connect perfectly with this film. As though it were crafted for me. SO yeah, this goes in the collection. I wish the audience had been larger for Scorsese’s love letter to cinema… but then, that in and of itself is the reason to love it more. This one is for film lovers.

I quite enjoyed this latest addition to the DC animated film world. HOWEVER, I wish, I really wish this was about an extra hour long… charge more and tell a more complete version of the TOWER OF BABEL. They gloss over the effects of what happens to BATMAN and the storyline he set into motion by creating perfect ways to defeat each of his fellow members of the JUSTICE LEAGUE and how his fellow GOOD DOERS reacted. I love what’s here. I like the film, but it doesn’t have the dramatic weight that it could have and should have given us. As a result of abandoning that, it just feels a bit more like a long episode of the JUSTICE LEAGUE instead of the MOVIE it should have been. But that’s only because I know Waid’s original comic story that this is based upon. That’s what you get from the books that the budget-line watching executives don’t understand. By creating cookie cutter sheets for this series of Animated films, they will never win over the LARGER AUDIENCE OUT THERE, that looks at this and will just call it a silly cartoon. The action is great, the animation and style work flawlessly together… but the story is sold short and most out there won’t really know if something is missing and that’s to be commended. But had they really fully told this tale, it’d get real press looking at it. Perhaps people would say, “Why doesn’t Warner Brothers give these guys a real animated theatrical film budget and make these things destroy the box office?” And maybe someone would pay attention, because when they looked at that film – it blew their minds. Here, it is a cartoon. It can be so much more. This had a lot more potential than what this adaptation gave us. Kids will love it. That is the audience they’re being limited to, with us Geeks looking in too. I just long for the brilliant work these folks could deliver to be done at the true heights of their abilities.

I have to admit, I am never happier, than when I open up my mail & behold a classic film being given the Blu-ray treatment. I don’t really frequent the Home Video websites that break news about what’s being released when. I treat this column and my mail like a surprise. When I realized I would be able to see Cecil B DeMille’s production of THE BUCCANEER on Blu-Ray… whenever I wanted, I just smiled. This is a great American yarn. Whenever Cecil B DeMille is telling me a story – I feel as if Cecil B DeMille is some old man sitting in a chair telling me about the time he and Andrew Jackson and time he fought with them pirates around New Orleans! Just like that time he & Moses freed all them slaves in Egypt. It’s like when Disney does history… This feels like a living Disneyland ride of history. It’s directed by Anthony Quinn. But see if you don’t feel that same properness of history that Disney was famous for doing. I’d love to see this at DISNEYWORLD in the HALL OF PRESIDENT’S with a dramatic introduction by their Andrew Jackson imagi-bot and have a Yul Brynner lookalike come out with WestWorld outfit and kill one another in Robot Death. But I’m not quite producing those spectaculars yet. Soon though. Soon. Back to the Blu… Love the look of the movie on this disc, but it is a damn shame that Paramount didn’t produce any extras on this. With TCM doing such a great job and being in HD, or NETFLIX, it’s really the extras that push most of us to investing in the joy of BLU.

This is such a great Fritz Lang film. The man behind METROPOLIS had a long and storied career in Hollywood after fleeing the horrors of the Nazis – and with every film of his I have found my estimation of him constantly growing by leaps and bounds. In SCARLET STREET you have Edward G Robinson as an older man, he’s a cashier at a local bank. He is well loved by the boss for his loyalty and he has a loveless marriage with an intolerable shrew of a woman. At the party in his honor at work, he sees the boss leave early with a young affectionate lady in his car and the notion of younger women desiring older men has entered his mind. Then he meets Joan Bennett and she latches on. This is a fantastic film noir. Just fantastic. Dan Duryea is one of the greatest fucking heels of a human being you’ll ever see. What a bastard. Love him. Don’t you love a great bastard in a movie? I do. KINO really delivered. This film is the exact sort of film that makes last night’s celebration of film feel so week. There’s such vitality to SCARLET STREET. Such danger. You don’t see the twists and turns. You fall in love with Edward G Robinson. Here he is at the exact opposite end of the spectrum from his Johnny Rocco or ‘Rico’. Those were men of infinite ego and pomp. Here you have a man lost in a job that isn’t what he had dreamt he was & he meets this girl that makes him feel he is an artist. He never aspired to do anything in his life. Here he feels like he has a chance to live. The transformation in his character is so deft, that it reminds me exactly of the great performances of James Mason’s more adult work. SCARLET STREET is going to become a favorite film, at least for me. It gets better on repeat viewings. It comes with a commentary by David Kalat, who is as always a very informing and fun listen. Great job KINO!

Ah, Louis Malle’s VANYA ON 42ND STREET – when I realized that guy from PRINCESS BRIDE was Wallace Shawn – and fucking amazing. As great as David Mamet can get is on display to the ear here. Joining the brilliant Wallace Shawn is Julianne Moore of 1994. Julianne has always been beautiful, but what I find amazing is just how talented she was, all the way back. She reminds me of Jessica Lange that way. Gorgeous, but able to just convey so much emotion and with Moore – you can see chemical reactions in this film as she is happy, sad, name it. She’s feeling every emotion. VANYA ON 42ND STREET is a movie on a nuance that few films hit. SO happy to have Criterion putting this out. There’s a new documentary with interviews with just about everyone. It looks and sounds great.

Ok, earlier in the column I was praising Fritz Lang’s SCARLET STREET from 1945. This film he made in 1919, over a quarter of a century before. He shot for another 15 years after SCARLET STREET and continued to make wonderful work throughout. With THE SPIDERS, Fritz Lang creates an Indian Jones style treasure hunting character after Peruvian gold and treasure. This is actually two movies into a planned 4-some of movies. This is Fritz Lang making a very Jules Verne/Arthur Conan Doyle/Lucas-Spielberg kind of thing – and it’s very cool. This is the earliest known film of Fritz Lang’s to survive and KINO has done a great job of bringing it to life. If you love adventure, this is one shot and created in the earliest days of cinema, by the young talent of one of the great OLD MEN of film. I love this pulp silent. I’d love a more traditional rollicking adventure theme created by someone that known their way around an orchestra for this one. It’d be such a great thing to have happen. As is, this is just amazing to see.

You loved BLACK SWAN, RED SHOES… you need another film to add to your balletic duo of beloved films. Look no further than NIJINSKY – For someone that spends his days at a gym trying to learn to walk again, ballet is something I behold with wonder. The sheer majesty of movement, the grace… It is impossible to imagine grace. But when I watch what the best human bodies can do, it makes me feel absolutely confident that I’ll at least play basketball badly. This is a raw film, it is telling something that is just not necessarily an up story. But then, I wouldn’t say BLACK SWAN or RED SHOES was a happy go-lucky affair. Wonderful image. Wish there was more on the Blu though.

This is exactly my kinda of Euro-Erotic Genre Kinky affair. Witches, Nazis, Nubile hotties. But then it has this crazy beautiful look to it. It isn’t just flat and obvious. It’s classy hot. But with a healthy dose of WOW. The film will leave you spinning, as it isn’t quite like much you’ve seen. Even if you’ve seen the weird cool shit like me. And, well I just love Carroll Baker. I just don’t think we’ll ever see films like this ever again. Not of this production quality and exquisite weirdness. If you think it looks like a Comic Book, well… it was directly adapted and if you know the book – you’ll see exact frames reproduced at times… ala Rodriguez on SIN CITY. If you dig the weird shit, this is good weird shit. Almost 50 minutes of extras. BLUE UNDERGROUND does fantastic work on their releases.

At last year’s FANTASTIC FEST, we had our first Israeli Horror film and filmmakers – and the film was a huge success at the Fest. I missed it there, and had heard nothing but praise about it. My Movie Night buddy Diana demanded that I watch it with her – and I have to say, when you’re sitting down to watch a new horror film from a country that hasn’t really produced horror films that I’d seen… You get nervous. Just knowing that had me on edge. Then I watched it. All I knew was the title. RABIES and the box cover. I was absolutely not prepared for the movie. It looks like torture and rape, right? But that title doesn’t necessarily jive with that. Just watch. This is one of those horror films where you don’t necessarily know why what is happening is happening. Maybe the land is cursed. Perhaps it is simply a bad place. Maybe a military canister is leaking something somewhere. Whatever is going on. It’s like RABIES. Madness. Descent into madness. It is pretty goddamn spectacular.

You ever hear the story about Lana Turner and Johnny Stompanato? They were romantically inclined, until it turned into a murder case where Lana Turner’s daughter killed Johnny Stompanato? If you you’re your Kenneth Anger HOLLYWOOD BABYLON 1 & 2 – then you’re probably pretty up on the story. Did you know they made a movie about it in 1964 with Susan Hayward and Joey Heatherton in the Mother / Daughter roles – and a trashy Harold Robbins wrote it up as a novel, they joined Bette Davis and Mike Connors in the film – and the great blacklisted director Edward Dmytryk helming. The result is something kinda badass. This thing has serious attitude. Bette Davis is enormous on this screen. Jesus she possesses the film when she’s on. Susan is great too. This is a great trashy film ripped from Tabloid headlines of the late 50’s.

Here’s a truly brilliant Edward Dmytryk film. Did you love THE GREY? This is even more manly. Spencer Tracy is some kind of a God in this movie. He’s a legendary mountain climber, retired… still a mountain goat, but when a plane crash occurs, he and his brother get asked to climb the mountain on a rescue operation. There are a ton of details I’m leaving out. But just know that all is not good between Spencer Tracy and his younger brother, whom he’s raised since he was a little boy. Robert Wagner is perfectly cast as the younger brother. This is a film to be inspired by. Imagine CLIFFHANGER shot by a poet starring a tough deeply emotional Spencer Tracy instead of Stallone. This is an amazing film. Very pleased to have it on Blu.

I was there when Ernesto Espinoza and Marko Zaror arrived at the Alamo South for Fantastic Fest having just finished MANDRILL. A film they made just to give them an excuse to come back to Fantastic Fest. A movie they essentially shot and choreographed on the fly, very quickly – and OH MY GOD, it is one of those films like THE KILLER and not at all like THE KILLER. This is a tale of an Assassin. The finest assassin in all of Chile and he has revenge on his mind. He’s trying to get to a man who is impossible to get to. There’s a girl. There’s romance. There’s flagrant machoistic testosterone seeping from the screen. It is all at once hilarious, emotionally honest and kind of sweet – and fucking awesome and badass. When Vern saw it, he watched it multiple times in a row, the same day. It’s that kind of film. Marko Zaror’s other films are on Netflix and they are solid fun genre works, but MANDRILL is his best work. Marko Zaror is a star waiting to be birthed world wide. Watching this film he has the charisma and skills to be something amazing in film. Hell, he’s proved that with MANDRILL. This is another really great film from the pair of Zaror and Espinoza. I can’t wait for the next one!

This was Mexico’s official entry to the Academy Awards for FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM this year. It didn’t quite make the cut, and while this film is great – there’s not a Foreign Film Nominee I’d replace it with, but I do wish if they went to 9 or 10 films for Best Picture – that they at least give the languages of Earth a similar field. In that field, I know MISS BALA would have qualified. This is purportedly a true and horrifyingly shocking true tale – this has a type of unflinching violence that is just brutal and honest. MISS BALA is for everyone that likes “tough movies”.

And this is why every video game must be adapted into either an animated series or a feature film. Weird shit like this needs to exist. This is really bizarre and fun stuff. That said, I can’t take the idea of owning a whole season. Makes me feel like a crazed addict. I gave my copy away.

That’s it for this week, next week we kick off March with my look at GAME OF THRONES, IMMORTALS, MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL Blu, FOOTLOOSE Craig Brewer style, TO CATCH A THIEF Blu, THE SKIN I LIVE IN Blu, DEER HUNTER Blu, JACK AND JILL, LIKE CRAZY, GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES, TENNESSEE TUXEDO, REINDEER GAMES, 9 ½ WEEKS blu, PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE Blu, STRIPTEASE Blu, 54 Blu, Corman’s THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS Blu, BLADE OF KINGS Blu, BENJI Blu and that should do it. Till then, enjoy your swim in film!

That is a film that will stay with you long after your initial viewing. Tremendous work by the cast. And Harry hit it right on the head with Edward G. Robinson. He is one of my all time favorite actors. Fritz Lang did a masterful job.

I read a few other reviews on it and unfortunately, they spoiled the film, but I'm still curious to see it.
The title may be misleading though, but I get it's supposed to be metamorphical.
Its exciting to know that there are still good, original horror films to be made and not everything is a remake or a sequel.

I LOVE Cliffhanger, anyone who loves action movies should. The Mountain looks real good and Spencer Tracey is great. But why do we have to re-cast everything in our mind. What? Cliffhanger would have been better without Stallone? Really? This is why we should all thank our lucky stars Harry idolises Hollywood but doesn't work for it (except when he's taking kickbacks for posting positive reviews for lousy films). He'd be exactly the kind of hack exec that would want Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan for EVERYTHING. "I love your script kid, but it needs more Julia Roberts. Oh, and how about an explosion and an impalement for the finale?" Dick. No, the irony is not lost on me.
Will check out The Mountain. And cherish the lack of a Harry Knowles credit on my copy of Cliffhanger.

is only $29.99 for the DVD set on Amazon. It is $34.99 for the Blu Ray. Still and awesome deal for perhaps the best show ever.
But you want the Blu Ray version. It has so much more than the DVD set. It isn't just a hi-def vs standard def difference. There are some amazing features on the Blu Ray. I have two friends who are finally giving in and buying blu ray players this week because of it.
Can't wait!

In the film Michel Simon falls in love with Janie Marèse, and he did off-screen as well, while Marèze fell for Georges Flamant, who plays the pimp. Renoir and producer Pierre Braunberger had encouraged the relationship between Flamant and Marèze in order to get the fullest conviction into their performances - (Flamant was a professional criminal but an amateur actor). After the film had been completed Flamant, who could barely drive, took Marèse for a drive, crashed the car and she was killed. At the funeral Michel Simon fainted and had to be supported as he walked past the grave. He threatened Renoir with a gun, saying that the death of Marèze was all his fault. "Kill me if you like", responded Renoir, "but I have made the film

I'm actually a fan of the show. It's fun, gory and worth watching. But Harry's review here is filled with so much hyperbole it's best to go in with your expectations in check. At it's core it's great and well executed, but more often than not the humor and delivery fall flat. All the cool stuff happening around it makes up for it, but there's always this sense of cheesiness and laziness to the delivery. It's good, but it's not as good as Harry says it is.

I really liked Marco Zaror in Mirage Man. Does he still do martial arts in the new movie?
MAsk of the Phantasm is the last DC property that I think WB released theatrically, and it still holds up pretty well to this day. Which is awesome considering it was inspired by a very lukewarm story from Michael Barr.
What other DC books would make good feature-length movies that we are forgetting about? I really think the Death of Superman could have been longer as well and introduced all the new Superguys.
One I'd personally like to see is The Dark Knight Strikes Again, with all the bells and whistles, quality animation and orchestral soundtrack that WB can provide. Then again, I'm just a little crazy.

Most of them are, at the very worst, good and perfectly watchable (Apocalypse was the only one I didn't like at all). But given that they have Dark Knight Returns on the schedule and it's planned as a two-parter, you bet your ass I'll be buying every new release until then. Sales for these movies have been dropping steadily and I really don't want to see them cancel the releases before they get to TDKR.

I'll refrain from calling you out on the terrible writing in this week's column, since you already posted a self-critique presumably immediately after posting. (But really—your punctuation usage is off the wall today!)
Instead, I have to say, that "Pac-Man" show was, even when I was a kid, just weak. (Nevertheless, I watched it.) I remember being bewildered by the villain behind the ghosts (who got their new bodies from a closet). He was gigantic and also clearly a human (albeit green) so he seemed wildly out of place. Why did he never just storm through Pac-Land Godzilla style if he so hated Pac-Man and his kin. Why work with those goofy ghosts at all? Did younger-me miss some detail why that half-Darth Vader guy couldn't do this? Don't get me started on the disappointment that was "Donkey Kong" and half of the "Saturday Suprcade". (Q-bert taking place in a "Happy Days"-like era; wha?) And Hanna-Barbera must have some real balls to slap the word "classic" on that DVD. Classic is what it is not. (maybe "vintage" would have been better.) What's next on the "classic" series? "The Biskitts"? "Shirt Tales"?

I've been to matinees here in Portland in the last month that had 3 people in the theater... and they still showed the movie. I'd demand a free pass if I made the effort to go to the cinema and they didn't screen the film at the advertised time.

You have a new cast of less-than-great writers, you're hardly involved with the site, and when you do turn in something it's either an "I don't feel like covering the Oscars this year" article or something half hearted like this.
You giving up on us aintitcoolers?

I agree. I've seen a few movies alone. This past fall, I was the only person in the theater seeing Moneyball. I didn't take my pants off (I like Brad Pitt but not THAT much) but it did allow me to enjoy the movie without listening to people chatting on their cell phones or to each other.
As far as I know, theaters are required to show the movie if even just one person is in the theater. If they cancel it, after you bought a ticket, you should demand your money back or, at the very least, a pass to a future movie.

I don't know who was more pissed off, me or my kid. They've usually been pretty good in the past, and our local comic book shop here in Dallas, Keith's Comics, books a screen every time theres a big comic-based movie screening and that's a fucking blast. But this pissed me off. They gave us 6 free tickets on the house though, so we went and watched the Muppet movie. Fucking terrible to cancel Hugo on it's opening night though. Standing in the crowd next to the Twilight crowd (which was enormous) and listening to grown men and women talking about how the franchise was the greatest thing to ever hit the silver screen made me want to punch the nearest wall though. Especially after they cancelled a genuinely awesome movie.)

..but Justice League: Doom was quite enjoyable. Although it's reaching to say it's based on Tower of Babel when the only thing the two have in common is the theft of Batmans' protocols.<p>
If Warner Brothers does actually green light The Dark Knight Returns, they really do need to go the whole kit and kaboodle with the money and running time.

Who seemed more interested in eating and screaming than watching a fucking movie. There was this fat black kid next to us and he ate TWO FUCKING PIZZAS and whined like a little bitch throughout the movie until his mom bought him FOUR sodas and a BUCKET OF POPCORN. I shit you not, he even ordered the second pizza himself without his mum batting an eyelid. Just as well you can drink in that place because I couldn't have handled that shit sober.

Studio Movie Grille is a tremendously substandard theater. As a Dallas native who tried to enjoy it many times, I can attest to their...questionable practices.
To cancel a movie on its opening night basically prevents you from building an audience for it. Cowards.

As one of the new "less than great writers" I applaud you for recognizing me for what I am. Bless you.
Harry and I have been busy with a few Top Secret Big Projects for the site that will bear fruit very soon. there's a lot in the works, and we'll be talking about some of it rather soon.

When comparing The Mountain to Cliffhanger about the only thing they have in common is they each take place on a mountain. A much more apt comparison would be comparing The Mountain to The Edge (Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin). When you watch The Mountain, as you damn well SHOULD, you will see why I say that. Cliffhanger, which I think is a solid and very entertaining action movie, is much lighter, and more escapist in tone, while The Mountain is actually closer to a morality tale and character study that just happens to be told via a suspenseful blend of action and drama.

But it's hard to believe and a little annoying that the only way they all survived was because Bane left Batman to suffer but didn't actually seal the deal in some way. I also feel like they sped up the reasoning behind Batman's plans, how they work, how Vandal Savage manipulated them, etc.
Definitely could have been longer in the dialogue and story parts, and shorter on the action (which I felt was a bit sterile).

...jeez, whodathunkit? I can think of so many films that aren't even on dvd, but Ed Wood's "classic gets the hidef treatment? Oh, and I always wondered just how in hell Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner could be brothers. They must have had that same weird DNA that Clooney and Tarantino had in From Dusk Til Dawn.

Got more of a "Buffy Light" vibe, except with more sex and bad language. Plus the main dude (Todd) is actually kind of an idiot. Yeah there's the Scooby team who help out and all. Have yet to see if the second season is an improvement on the first. Most shows really gel or fall apart in their second season, so I'll hold out on declaring this one a fail or not for now.

I've never seen a more passive main character in my life. She does absolutely nothing to try to escape her situation. She makes one half-hearted plea for help and then, just gives up. Which makes it really, really tough to root for her. Look, I get it, she's simply a stand-in for the Mexican people who are helpless in their fight against the drug war. But it still didn't work for me.

..for the past 3 months or so, whenever somebody has called you out on a fuck up or just general sloppiness, you have replied that it is due to the 'many top secret improvements' being implimented 'behind the scenes' and once these 'improvements' have occured then we will see the true badassness of this site.
Get on with it will you, cos i hate a cock tease, really lads it's a fuckin geeky website not the second coming.................or is it?

It was the most boring "adventure" movie I've ever seen. It's essentially a bunch of goofballs talking for 2 hours. Any time there's any sort of action/adventure it seems tacked on just to keep the audience awake. And don't get me wrong, I don't even like action movies generally...but Hugo could have used it.
It was falsely advertised. Turns out its just a fabrication about the history of films. BOOOORING.
But I expect people who like the history of film (and those that think any of this is real lol) would enjoy it....then again, so is the Artist except it IS realistic...and a good movie.
Harry didnt like The Artist because nothing blew up in it. His brain can't process human emotion.

The first two thirds of Hugo are relentlessly shit. The children are awful - if I ever have to watch Chloe Moretz again I'll explode. The directing and editing was clunky, the dialogue was wooden, and the adventure was total bullshit and went nowhere.
The last third was great. It suddenly felt passionate and sweeping and nostalgic and wonderful. But why did we have to endure almost 2 hours of soulless crap to get there? Why didn't Scorcese just make a Melies biopic? It felt like his heart was really in the final act, and that he was just going through the motions with everything else.
I also don't get the praise for the visuals. The colour grading was hideous - almost exclusively teal and orange for most of the beginning, then it bizarrely switches to a more normal pallet, but then back to freaking orange and blue again. Why, when you're making a fantasy film set in a magical era, would you limit your colour scheme to two lazy complementary colours? Goddamit people are dumb.
And the visual effects were hit and miss to say the least. All the swooping shots through the station looked like the worst of Moulin Rouge, and the 3D only made it look even more like a pop up book.
It did well because people love the idea of "a love letter to cinema" (that phrase makes me want to puke. 9 times out of 10 it means it's a mawkish and contrived piece of navel gazing crap. I don't need the message of a movie to be that movies are great.). The Academy love being told how great their industry is.

Fear not, I found your comment beneath the waves.
I have never seen "La Chienne," and honestly never heard of it. But the few Renoir films I have seen are some of the most magical movies to pass before these eyes. "Rules of the Game" is so much more than the sum of its parts, almost as though we were watching an illusion unfold before our eyes. And "the River" is just... it is cinema, pure and simple. And I like parts of "Grand Illusion" and "The Lower Depths" quite a lot ("Lottie has bleau augen" is something I say quietly to myself at moments of ordinary beauty, like a sad sweet little mantra, or the half-remembered hymn of a love song remembered only in the bare chords of its melody wafting through like the wind around a loved one's face, the way it displaces their hair and covers their features, but allows you to glimpse a candid portrait of them, like an inner image, a visage of them unparallelled in memory).
But after haveing read your story about Renoir's technique in "La Chienne," it opens up my thoughts towards him and how he achieved what he did in his films. His methods for getting the mysterious aura that surrounds his films has always eluded me. And after reading that account, I feel as though I know more about the atmosphere he created and celebrated on his sets in order to bring about those haunting films.
Reminds me in a way of Werner Herzog's belief in "the voodoo of a place," how he believes in filming in real locations in order to elicit something indelible in the image of the place, in the air and in the light, in the specificity of it. Almost like a spirit resideing.
There is something of harmony in the synching up of the filming with the film itself, as though the hidden work imbues the film with a life all its own. Something that makes both of them masters.

mistakes aside. A good little piece, and makes me want to re-view the film (the heart-brokenness and bleakness of it repelled me the first time, and I think it might be time to revisit it).
But wanted to tell you - you get a lot of flak comeing at you from all sides and yet it push forward, test yourself, keep setting goals.
And I appreciate your efforts and the fact that this site, which can be quite wonderful at times and has been a small joy for me during the past 10 years of life, still exists.
Thanks for the hard work.

Back in November I took in a Tuesday afternoon matinee of Arthur Christmas (in 3D), and I was literally the only person there, but they still showed the movie. If they didn't show the film at the advertised time, I would have demanded my money back *and* a free pass to another show. Unless there's some technical foul-up, there is NO excuse for a theater not to show a movie just because only a handful of people bought tickets. I mean, if literally NO ONE buys a ticket, I don't think theaters have to actually project the film to an empty room, but if even one single, solitary person buys a ticket, then they better well fucking show the movie.

Or at least I'll attempt a viewing sometime in the near future.
Don't know what the reaction will be, but it is worth a shot.
I work with elementary school special needs children, some very much the epitome of social misfit, and great children's films have been a way I've used to speak to them.
And I love showing them live-action films, there is so much more communication there than in the simple pleasures and easy consumerism of cartoons and animation (as fun as they can be). Kids can learn a lot from watching characters on film, especially when they have human faces. My kids have a lot of troubleing dealing with others, and films make for vicarious experiences with intense emotional stakes. They can be cathartic for kids, if chosen well.
I've got several kids who use trains as their entry into the world, a focal point. And the fact that Hugo lives, hides, loves, sees, watches, experiences, and breathes from within a train station, it is almost too much of a temptation to not try to show it to my class.
And I like it a tremendous film when it comes to expressing the immense divide that seems to separate the weary protectiveness of their emotions that so defines adults and the open-hearted vuneralbility of children, their impulse to go-for-broke, to wager everything, their simple and beautiful faith in others. "Hugo" speaks to that divide in a very powerful way.
And while it may be slow and not what children are used to with the lightning speed of cartoon TV shows and the laugh-a-second slapstick and numb-brained sarcasm and irreverance that they are brought up to see as comedy, I have found that if I walk them through it, provide hints and clues and encourage them verbally as the film proceeds ("WHAT'S GOIN' HAPPEN NEXT!?), it helps and they end up responding very very positively.
Don't know, just a grand experiment at this point. But I'm going to try.

Harry oversold it, but maybe that is what it will take to get people to watch it. I love the show and watched the whole season twice the first weekend I found it.
But I normally have to add a few disclaimers to friends when I recommend it. It is a designed to be cult show that has fun with the genre. Some episodes stand out more than others. Some are kind of weak. Side characters are more fun than the leads. But I'm a sucker for a nerdy redheaded ladies.

I wanted to see it but in my town they were only showing it in 3D in every theater. I don't mind 3D for outlandish horror movies that are 90 minutes long and they throw a bunch of limbs and shit at you, but I find that any longer than that and 3D starts to give me a headache and I feel drained afterwards. Was Hugo really worth seeing in 3D?

Where? I go sometimes to the earliest showings due to my crazy schedule... I've been in theaters alone and never have had a show canceled on me. This was in Ohio... I'm in Los Angeles now and I've never seen that happen in either places.

I ordered the three tickets online for Hugo, even reserved seats because we were pumped to see it. Got there and it's nowhere to be seen. We got our comp tickets to see two more movies but the excuse for canceling was piss poor, stating lack of interest and the movie company didn't want to show the movie there, which I find hard to believe, unless like Monty said, their questionable activities got them a boycott. Yet they were showing the new Twilight movie in about 3 fucking screens!

...is nothing like The Grey. It is the story of the relationship between Tracy and Wagner. I've been fond of this movie since I was a kid, but thought scenic and at times even emotionally effective it is a fifties melodrama with a very interesting ending I will not spoil.
Tracy is really good in it, though.

Well shuck my corn harry. You reviewed all those movies sent to you and gave them ALL, every ONE, glowing reviews!
In case you don't reread anything you post, allow me to summarize your reviews in order:
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My favorite thing of 2010
My favorite film of 2011.
I quite enjoyed this
I just smiled. This is a great American yarn.
This is a fantastic film noir. Just fantastic.
[It's] a movie on a nuance that few films hit. SO happy to have Criterion putting this out. ... It looks and sounds great.
This is just amazing to see.
You need another film to add to your balletic duo of beloved films. Look no further than [this]
This is exactly my kinda of [movie]. ... it has this crazy beautiful look to it. ... It’s classy hot.
It is pretty goddamn spectacular.
The result is something kinda badass. This thing has serious attitude.
Here’s a truly brilliant [...] film. ... This is an amazing film.
This is another really great film ... I can’t wait for the next one!
[This] is for everyone that likes “tough movies”.
This is why every video game must be adapted into either an animated series or a feature film. ... this needs to exist.
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I don't think you're lazy or unprofessional. I think you're a shill and a plant of the highest order.
Collect your $200 and pass go you sell out. I can't imagine why people send you free stuff. You'll blow anyone for a free movie you can watch while laying in your bed before the crane eventually has to lift you out of it.
Ever wonder why your credibility doesn't exist? Read this post whenever you're curious.

That is quite a damning summary you put together. I wouldn't care if I hadn't been disappointed with 50% of the movies I've bought based on this column. The hyperbole is OUT OF THIS WORLD. I bought Todd & The Book of Evil blind after this week's column; let's hope it is not one of the 50%!

I'm looking at you Wonder Woman, All Star Superman, Superman Doomsday,etc.
It was the perfect swan song for the late great Dwayne McDuffle whose writing for JL/JLU made the series a great success.
Props to DCAU for reuniting the original cast voiceovers and of course the dedication pre credits.
Worth the purchase.

Its that it forced the movie to mirror the current DC universe where Cyborg is in the JLA
Hal Jordan and Barry Allen are also in the current JLA, all that was missing was Aquaman.
What i was annoyed with is that they took so many liberties with the original story.

I wasnt aware that Cyborg is now a member of JL (I'm a Marvel Boy at Heart.) and I remember reading a remark about the JL Animated series in which one of the Tbers bitched about John Stewart to the extent of calling it Animated affirmative action. LMMFAO
MY apologies and thanks!!

it's supposed to be a kid movie. but in fact it was really self indulgent a kid mogive a movie mad for old people. it was really boring. the kid was a dickensian character a starving and quasi homeless orphan. why should he give a fuck about meliès, he sould worry about his shitty life and his immediate survival. and the adventures of borat in the train station who cares?, seriously... i did'nt care about the characters and the story was horrible with nothing important at stake.

This scene bothered me. Im not completely up to date on my Vandal Savage vs. The Lasso of Truth, but Wonder Woman had it around him first. Wouldnt that make him talk and/or tell the truth about the Doom HQ MacGuffin Device before Victor Cyborg could crack the case?
Im not hating on Cyborg mind you, Im just wondering which trumps which in which plot device world?
Finally, I really enjoyed the Documentary on Dwayne McDuffie. It was the first thing I watched on the DVD. Well Done, WB....

I enjoyed Hugo a lot but I found the parts of it meant to evoke Amelie style French cinema to be dull and disconnected. The woman and the man with the dog at the cafe, the security guard and the flower shop girl all seemed like a copy of an imitation. I never felt invested in their everyday struggles and I felt little satisfaction when we spent time wrapping up their stories. It's a technically profound film to be sure, but I'm not sure it's an emotionally profound one.

My dad told me about that one and I never got to see it while he was alive. He didn't say they were alike, but said that this and Emperor of the North would have made a perfect double feature.
And I LOVE Emperor. One of my favorites. I actually watched it in a theater when I was a kid and it scared the crap out of me, in a good way.

I totally agree. I wanted to like it a lot, but it seemed to fall a little flat. I kept thinking how much better it would have been if it was a french movie directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet. I just don't think Scorcese can to "quirky," and that is what Hugo was.

At the one-hour mark, I heard "how much longer is this movie?" Sadly, I think I was more bored than they were. An artsy "kids movie" in which little to nothing happens for 80% of its running time. It's no wonder it barely made back half of its alleged budget. Scorsese should stick to R-rated movies.

It's just plain old bad writing, dude. Just a terrible, awful use of the English language. Grammar at a sub-high school level. That's why people give you a hard time. Sadly, you just don't seem to care. I mean, shit, MS Word would give you suggestions for how to fix 75% of your mistakes.

I've watched it three times now and enjoyed it more each time. Watched it with my 61 year old mother during a best picture nominee marathon and she thought it was great, too. But I have friends who question my sanity for liking it, too. It's just one of those movies that not everybody digs. And I don't think it has anything to do with "getting it". Even if you don't know anything about the subtext it's still a very complete movie.

I'm sorry, but this film was boring as hell and NOT a film for families and children. The plot is just not interesting at all! DO NOT show this to your kids and be prepared to complain and bitch at your TV.
I'm a big fan of Marty's work. Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Casino, Gangs of New York, The Departed...THOSE are the kind of films he's good at making.
I give him kudos for trying to make a "family" film, but his love for film (the plot) is what kills this beautifully shot film.
Visually, the film is great, but the story is unwatchable, ironically. A movie about movies is terribly, lacking in an interesting storyline.
I really am disappointed. I hate to say this, but I'm happy this didn't win best picture.
And to those that love this movie, before you start calling me a filmhater...I love film. Love it. I have a big fucking movie collection and watched a shit-ton of films, including Marty's!
He's one of our best directors and while I haven't liked all of his work...HUGO is without question, the biggest disappointment in his career, imo.
I'm waiting for "The Irishman" and I hope he's still attached to it. THAT sounds like the kind of movie he needs to stick with

True. I know you really like the film and that's totally fine.
Hugo really frustrated me. I wanted to like it, but the story just didn't grab me at all. I was admiring the cinematography, more than wanting to follow the story.
It's a shame. If the movie wasn't about the movies and instead, was something about some fantastic, magical mystery, then maybe I wouldve cared.

...is supposed to be movies themselves, or "the movies", or film. But in the end it's either a small movie trying to be very big, or a very big movie trying to be small and personal. Because when you get down to the most base level, other than the subplot about Melie's films, it's actually just another tale about personal relationships.
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Hugo's relationship with Isabelle, George, the Station Inspector, the station itself, his dead father and his past. George's relationship with Isabelle, Mama Jeane, Hugo and his past. The station's relationship with everyone. On an even smaller scale, the Station Inspectors relationship with Lisette. Even smaller, Monsieur Frick trying to get past Madame Emilie's dog so he can try to start a relationship with her.
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Granted, that's not how it was sold and that's not what most people were expecting. Because of that the grandness, the spectacle, just doesn't work for some people. In that regard I can see why a lot of people are disappointed. It's not an action movie. It's not fast edits and explosions. It's certainly not what Marty is known for. But like I said, for me, it works. And it's worked better on repeat viewings.

The majority of people thought "Hugo" sucked. And they were right...Long, unengaging...and contrived...It was like an obscure fast food franchise product, McCorn Dogs, or some crud...but it was the "Scorsese" brand name trying to cross-market itself.

8.0 on IMDb. 93% critic rating, 82% viewer on Rotten Tomatoes. Nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Yeah, the majority clearly thinks Hugo sucks.
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Ehhh! Wrong. The majority doesn't feel the need to argue with people who don't like it. So please, speak for yourself, not the "majority".

If you want to determine what the majority of the movie-going public thinks of a movie, box-office take is a pretty strong barometer. $70 mil domestic (barely) is mighty weak for a big-budget kids' movie. Doesn't speak to the quality of the flick, of course, but it's clear that Hugo just didn't click with its intended audience.

Or for that matter..Presidents, movie celebrities and the whole shebang...Oh No Hollywood is always telling the "truth"..F'n idiots. It's like saying just becuase she is your mother, she would never lie to you. Blind faith.

That is why they take street hookers and hustlers and bedeck them with jewels. It is completely face value and temporal. They need to sell the idea of being "popular" so they make musicians seem like "great" social philosophers...If Hollywood didn't do that, these people would be considered useless members of society...BECAUSE THEIR PRODUCTIVITY IS WORTHLESS AND TEMPORARY. So no, all those "Billboard charts" "Box office figures" and sales figures ..can be completely manipulated like any other industry is known to do...Yeah here's shocking news! Hollywood cooks it's books!

..one thing you can't complain about is the fact that Harry lets everyone have a pop at his site and rip the piss out of him and he seems to take it in his stride.
I think i would be banning people left,right and centre if it was me.
But then Harry is a much bigger man than me...zing!!

...or a very large audience in general. And box office can certainly be considered in that case. I've already stated that it's clear it doesn't work for a lot of people. I even stated some of the reasons why I believe this happened.
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But I'm not claiming to be speaking for any "majority", and anybody who claims to be speaking for a "majority" of other peoples PERSONAL OPINIONS needs to go back to school and learn what the words they're typing actually mean.
<p>
Your opinion is your own. Anything else you write is based upon gathered, fact-checked information - aka "research". If someone chooses to look silly by dismissing such facts because they don't fall inline with their OPINION, well that's on them. But it doesn't change the fact that "most people" who have actually seen it do not think it "sucked". If they did, it would be very easy to prove.
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seansarto, I have no idea why you're going off on some tangent regarding issues completely unrelated to what the "majority" thought of Hugo, no do I care. Just know that I'm not impressed. In fact, you should consider yourself an idiot if you believe that just because somebody expresses their like for a movie and is capable of showing you, factually, that other people feel the same way that they're mindless sheep. Trust me when I say that your blind hate is much more dangerous than they people you think you've got all figured out.

His pockets are lined and his ego is stroked. He's "Harry Knowles from AICN" and that's all that matters. Unfortunately, it's really not anything to be proud of anymore. It used to be. I used to think his writing and his love for movies was so pure and truthful. He used to be able to write columns that would fill you with magical wonderment and pure joy. Now... not so much.

In the interests of fair discourse let me compensate yer effrontery by callin you a plain outright spineless turd who hasn't the guts or common sense enough of the world ta pay "hate" it's due respect. It ain't "blind", Mr. Turd, if some twisted m'ther f'k of a psycopath is raping your loved ones in front of yer EYES...YOU ARE PLAINLY SEEIN" THEN..Its a matter of experience...and that is exactly what all yer $12 at the box office has empowered..Douche bags who case out the main opportunities...and rob them from others who put their lives on the line to make those opportunities exist...It is no f'n coincidence that America is bein run like it was "Heaven's Gate 2" right now...way over budget an' countin on a big pay-back from an audience that is bankrupt...It is also probably no coincidence that Harry's health problems arose about the time they swiped his John Carter work away from him...I don't know for sure...But I'm pretty concerned that the coincidence was ta get Harry ta bend over an take it up the ass..an' he obviously didn't deserve it or want it it that way, a'hole..
"Hatred" only arises where there is great offense..Not defense, my litle poo-poo...There's nothin' worse than working around people who make like they are going to help you, and compensate you justly for your compassion towards them..who ya share yer investments with....and then ta be dumped in the cold when yer most vulnerable...An then them using spineless turds like you to "Dr Phil" in the vaccums they are creating...You who pay yer $12 so they can hire judges and cops and peons to act like nuthin happened and paper it over while they were raping your life's work right in front of you..an' then laughin' because a "majority" of "Dr Phil's" are on their side...to make such confrontations seem SO uncomfortable.
The world is 4D. Hatred is there for a reason..Hatred sucks...But it doesn't come from nowheres..And some of it is perfectly justified...because it usually is born outta stampin' all over sumethin' innocent.
Oh yeah and I love the line about me going off on tangents..while you are defending an escapist' reality! Talk about a nowhere man.

Yer totally entitled to yer opinion..Even it ain't common sense...But if yer opinion starts stampin all over the innocents...Time to lock you up.
Secondly you have to at least have some slight sensibility that with "Hugo", having a "reknowned" fillmmaker, Scorsese, making a film about France that is entirely devoid of the French language...is insultingly crass..Do you honestly think NO ONE NOTICED when the film was being made? And this is a film for kids? You don't think revisionism is dangerous do you?

You're an ignorant, short-sighted, narrow-minded twit. You have not one fucking clue what you're rambling on about and your reading comprehension skills appear to be nonexistent. Worse, you assume that you know all and others know nothing. You are the problem, not the solution.

Unless you have some experiences you'd like to share with us readers about what you know about Harry, personally..."how HIS mind works"..Which I imagine you don't. I'm scrapin' you off the bottom of my shoe, spineless piece of shit..."jaka".
At least I give the guy the credit for standin' up to you Hollywood fanatics and freaks and bend overs for passing pleasures..He's a human bein'...He STANDS UP to it....'Least he's tryin' to build somethin' a little more equitable by allowing such talkbacks without "moderators"..and "community guidelines" that guarantee "great publicity" an' nuthin' else for shit-eatin' grin movies like "Hugo"....Hollywood is all about shit-eatin an' bendin' over for more....That's my experience of it..The way it felt being around people who worked there and owed their livelihoods to it..The feeling wasn't good....My read of Harry is that, with AICN, he built up a distribution channel for manipulating public opinion...He could direct a consensus..And Hollywood NEEDS to control that..Like it was an election in the Congo....especially since fanboys have become a cornerstone of their profits(maintenance)..Harry had something that could get him deeper and deeper into the circles of the "beautiful ones"(prostitutes)..He HAS influence with this site..But the inner circle wants to keep that under its own terms and wasn't going to let him get any deeper..After all, in the end he is just one of those wimpy, nerdy, geeky comic book boys"..Which is all fanboys are in the end to the "Super Cool" whores and drug dealers who are the inner core who manipulate Hollywood these days..They are really nothing more than prostitutes and parasites who will condescend to anyone as long as they get what they want..Then they destroy their host when they attain it....So they put Harry in a wheel chair to send him a message about who runs the show..To counter that, they sent him one of their whores and free DVDS as a consolation..To tell 'him "That's as good as it gets for you, pal" ..No more. I've been in those shoes...That's my read of it...Tell me what you know an' we'll compare notes..Otherwise, I'm scrapin' you off my shoes now, piece of shit.

Unless you have some experiences you'd like to share with us readers about what you know about Harry, personally..."how HIS mind works"..Which I imagine you don't. I'm scrapin' you off the bottom of my shoe, spineless piece of shit..."jaka".
At least I give the guy the credit for standin' up to you Hollywood fanatics and freaks and bend overs for passing pleasures..He's a human bein'...He STANDS UP to it....'Least he's tryin' to build somethin' a little more equitable by allowing such talkbacks without "moderators"..and "community guidelines" that guarantee "great publicity" an' nuthin' else for shit-eatin' grin movies like "Hugo"....Hollywood is all about shit-eatin an' bendin' over for more....That's my experience of it..The way it felt being around people who worked there and owed their livelihoods to it..The feeling wasn't good....My read of Harry is that, with AICN, he built up a distribution channel for manipulating public opinion...He could direct a consensus..And Hollywood NEEDS to control that..Like it was an election in the Congo....especially since fanboys have become a cornerstone of their profits(maintenance)..Harry had something that could get him deeper and deeper into the circles of the "beautiful ones"(prostitutes)..He HAS influence with this site..But the inner circle wants to keep that under its own terms and wasn't going to let him get any deeper..After all, in the end he is just one of those wimpy, nerdy, geeky comic book boys"..Which is all fanboys are in the end to the "Super Cool" whores and drug dealers who are the inner core who manipulate Hollywood these days..They are really nothing more than prostitutes and parasites who will condescend to anyone as long as they get what they want..Then they destroy their host when they attain it....So they put Harry in a wheel chair to send him a message about who runs the show..To counter that, they sent him one of their whores and free DVDS as a consolation..To tell 'him "That's as good as it gets for you, pal" ..No more. I've been in those shoes...That's my read of it...Tell me what you know an' we'll compare notes..Otherwise, I'm scrapin' you off my shoes now, piece of shit.

When and if Harry starts editing posts or setting up guidelines or subjecting accounts to moderation..etc...Then I will consider this site compromised by the grinnin' shit-eaters...an' it can die worthlessly for all I care...Then it'll be just sumethin' I'll have to step over next time....like you, jaka.

His son-in-law, Anthony Quinn, finished the project. DeMille died a month after its release. Quinn was married to Katherine DeMille from 1937 - 65, and lived next door to Cecil B. DeMille's Los Feliz estate. Quinn's first child, born 1939, would died from drowning two years later, in a pool/pond on the estate.

Vandal Savage was not that interesting, the action was pretty routine, and I didn't feel much emotional impact when Batman's plans were revealed.
I agree with the poster above that more of the story should have been devoted the development of Batman's protocols to neutralize the other JL members, which would have been more interesting.